Tolerate: to allow;exist or occur without interference.
Intolerance: unable or indisposed to tolerate; unwillingness to recognise and respect

I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.

Gluten and lactose are not my friends.

Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.

I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

June 27, 2013

Cauli-Flour Pizza Crust

This has got to be one of the most bizarre things I have ever cooked, Dear Readers.... but in an entirely wonderful way!

Pizza with a cauliflower? Bah Humbug!
I was so very sceptical of this dish. I've seen versions of it floating about the interweb, but really? I didn't think it would work, I didn't think I'd like it, I really didn't think it would taste good, and I really, truly didn't think it would work... I was so happy to be proven wrong on sooo many levels indeed

The star of the show...TaaDaa!
So simple....

Now each cauliflower weighs differently, so I went with cooked amount instead. This lovely produced two cups of cooked, squeezed crumb. Just to give you an idea of serving size, I made this recipe and photos using one cup only

Process or grate your cauliflower into 'crumb', it will just take a few seconds

Place your crumb in a microwave dish and cook for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until it's cooked through
Yes, you can cook it any way you like if you hate microwaves, but this is a good dry way to go and you need to remove as much moisture as possible

Pop your cooked crumb into a strong porous cloth, or clean tea towel

Gather it up into a ball and SQUEEZE!

Remove as much liquid as you possibly can. This is the key to a crispy pizza. I think this is the step that also magically removes any strong taste from the veggie- so squeeze, squeeze away

See how nice and dry this is now, like damp sawdust
Measure your cooked crumb in cup amounts

For each cup of cooked crumb use one egg, 2 tab gf flour and pinch of salt

Add in the flour, egg and salt
You could also include a bit of garlic or onion powder and some dried Italian or pizza herbs too

The mix was still very damp, and not like an actual dough, but don't worry it still works out well

Spread out fairly thinly on a baking paper lined pizza tray. The easiest way I found was to use a silicon spatula and smooth the dough out that way
As you can see, this quantity made one about an inch smaller than the tray, but it would have been too thin to go any further

See, nice and thin- about the thickness of a thick wrap

Bake at 180/200* for 20 minutes, or until a light golden brown

The pizza base will easily lift away from the paper, and is fairly flexible
It had sweated a little on top of the paper, so while baking it with toppings, I placed it directly on the perforated pizza tray and let it crisp up a bit more that way

Top your pizza any way you like...
I like anchovies, olives, fresh basil, capsicum, lactose free cheese, gluten free ham and salami, mushrooms- the possibilities are endless!
Then bake your pizza in a hot oven 220*, until nice and bubbling and warmed all the way through

For a bit of fresh zing, I always have a bit of salad on top- today it was simply rocket and basil drizzled with white balsamic and EVOO

Look! Just like the 'real' thing!

You know Dear Readers, I was totally prepared to have a complete flop on my hands and to have wasted a whole afternoon.

I really can't say enough how surprised I was though. The pizza tasted awesome! It didn't taste like cauliflower unless you imagined quite hard, it was firm enough to eat properly, it browned up well, it even re-heated perfectly the next day. I just can't find the But... There isn't any.

I gave some of this to the whole family, even BigJ who loathes cauliflower with his entire being. Not one of them picked it. Admittedly, they preferred their wheat base, but they would have eaten my pizza without complaint if that's what they were offered. I don't usually make two different styles of meal, but you must remember I was expecting a disaster so tried to cover my bases :)

This will really be my Go-To recipe from now on, and I think I'll try a few experiments with it as pie bases as well. So very yummy indeed!

So Dear Readers, have you ever made something expecting a flop that turned out as amazing as this, and will you be willing to give this cauliflower pizza a chance?

Loved hearing your thoughts on this one, see I have this thing where if I see everybody else doing something (in a craze-like fashion), I rebel and refuse to join in. That's how I've felt seeing all these cauliflower pizza (actually cauliflower anything!) recipes floating around. But thank-you love, you may have just convinced me to actually try it before I diss it xx

Me too Emma! I like to do my own thing, but this sounded too good to be true and as I'm naturally cynical and suspicious I was waiting to say 'told you so!' So happy to be wrong :) Let me know what you think if you give it a go though please

Look at that!! Becca, you're a genius! That's absolutely fantastic! So glad you were able to come up with such a good option, it's pretty cool to be having homemade pizza when you're gluten and lactose intolerant! :) xxx

Why thankyou muchly Celia dear! The original idea wasn't mine, but all the recipes I researched included cheese in the crust so I had to play around with new ratios to get it right. I have to say this was the best gluten free, lactose free pizza I've had! Xox

THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME! Yes, I'm shouting (softly) with excitement, Bec. First, what a brilliant recipe you've shared, and second, I have two caulis in the fridge right now. One will be used for no-tatoes... and the other, well you know now what I'm going to do with that. Thanks so much xoox

This looks devine. I have tried to make another cauliflower pizza crust before and it didn't work (the instructions didnt say to squeeze out all of the moisture). Just wondering if almond meal or coconut flour would suffice as a substitue for GF flour?

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze! That's the secret to a good crust here indeed. Coconut flour would be fine as it sucks liquid and binds well, but almond meal might be a bit too crumbly. Let me know how it works out for you

I have heard of this but not been brave enough to give it a try. This certainly does look like a 'real' pizza. I've seen a few used for cauliflower lately (other than the cauliflower with cheese sauce my MIL used to make) and one was using it as a low-carb mash - cauliflower instead of potato! Clearly the possibilities for this vegetable are endless xx

There so perfect when they're in season that they're popping up in recipes everywhere at the moment Charlie. I have to admit I do love a good cauliflower cheese, but this is even better! Let me know if you give it a try sweetie xox

What a fabulous way to both bump up the nutritional value and veg content of a pizza, and what a great way to 'hide' the cauli as well. Definitely giving this a go, I think my hubby would be beside himself if I could make him still-tasty but less-guilty pizza!

Ooooo.. I can't believe my eyes!! I want to try these! OH.. and I went to the Langham Melbourne Choc High Tea yesterday and thought of you. They cater to GF eaters and will specially make additional GF treats if you tell them about your dietary requirements!

Oh you lucky thing indeed! Gluten free AND chocolate- does it get any better than that?! One day I'll get to Melbourne.... One day....I hope you try out the not-chocolate-but-still-yummy pizza and let me know what you and the boy think :)

Ive wanted to make this since zi saw it on Strands of my life. Thanks for showing us how. I gave skater cauliflower fried rice tonight and he didnt even suspect he was eating vegetables, Your pizza looks awesome mrs x!

Wow that is a really interesting recipe, I have never seen anything like it before. Also loved the introduction and your determination to make it even though you didn't think you like it. Well you showed you, didn't you :)

About Me

The InTolerant Chef is the nom-de-plume of The InTolerant Chef.She lives in Canberra,Australia,with her husband Big J, and 2 daughters, Little j and Middle C. Gluten and Lactose are not her friends. She also has many chemicals who refuse to tolerate her, and insulin finds her hard to resist. Despite all this, the InTolerant Chef is a healthy,happy person who loves cooking for her family and friends.